The Memorial of Chatam Sófer

I agree with the previous review that this is the most promising site from the Slovak tentative list, and I fully support the inscription. It would be a kind of satisfaction for the Jewish community of Slovakia, which suffered a lot during WWII. The authorities of Slovakia acted against them very actively and fully independently from the German Nazis.

I visited the monument during my day trip to Bratislava in February 2020. Just after my arrival from Prague by train, I simply called the number I found on the web pages and arranged the appointment. It should be OK to call the guide around 30 minutes prior the visit. The monument is opened every day except Saturday from 11am to 5pm. One can walked there from the city center or take a bus and get off at the stop Chatam Sofer just in front of the monument. When traveling by tram (Nos. 4 or 9), be aware that only trams in direction to the city center stops directly by the monument, but the former tram stop from the city center was canceled during the last reconstruction works and one needs to walk a bit from the next stop. The entrance fee was 6 EUR, and the guide told me the history of the place and explained its importance to the orthodox Jewish community (described already by Martina Ruckova). It took around one hour, and I could enter even to the sacred place, it means what is remaining from the …

If there is a tentative site I would recommend Slovakia pushing for nomination, it would be the Chatam Sofer memorial, which for me combines several reasons of outstanding value: not only is it an important pilgrimage place for many Jews as it is a place where Moshe Sofer is burried - he was a very important Orthodox Rabbi and a founder of Bratislava's yeshiva that was moved to Jerusalem after WWII.

The Memorial is also a testament to preservation of an Old Jewish Cemetery despite efforts to destroy it completely. The area around the Bratislava Castle historically was a place where Jews could settle. However, in 1940s and afterwards new town planning projects were drawn - one constructed the bridge across river Danube (the one with the flying saucer) which caused a large part of the Old Jewish town to be demolished to make space for the access road to the bridge. Another "great" idea was to remove the Jewish cemetery to make space for a tunnel. The local community was somehow able to convince the authorities to at lease preserve a section of 23 most important tombs (including one of Chatam Sofer) - it was enclosed in concrete, below the surface of the new road. It was accessible, with a torchlight and the ceiling was very low. It is a mystery how this was done; there are many explanations including superstition or bribes.

In 2002 the site was opened and restored, with the original graves still remaining …